Few more pictures from the tornado Wednesday night.

Here are some more pictures I took the night of the tornado--Left to right: Tree on neighbor's SUV, the hail damage/broken window on my house, a piece of hail in the yard--90 MINUTES after the tornado struck, some other pictures of hail, again more than 1 1/2 hours after the storm was over.

6/15/2011 Update: The insurance adjuster was by on Saturday. When he came off the roof, he said my roof had sustained "significant damage"; that my gutters and siding "got pounded"...so much for not having any "real" damage. Still waiting on the final report, but he did think I would likely have to replace my roof, gutters, and at least the siding on the west side of the house...but since it is aluminum siding, which is no longer in existence, it may be the house will need to be completely resided too. So GLAD I had the insurance adjuster check out everything, despite my initial thoughts that I got off lucky. And so glad that I have insurance. Only downer is that I just increased my deductible in March of this year...ouch.

Tornado hit Greensburg last night

The National Weather Service has confirmed that it was a EF-1 tornado that struck Greensburg last night. I was on my way to City Hall for a meeting @ 5:30 PM. It was about 5:10 PM and the skies were nasty looking. I'll be honest, the sirens go off SO much for what I consider non-emergencies, that I really don't hear them any more. It wasn't until the radio station had a caller say that he saw rotation over North Park (where Deb and Jerry lived when they were first married) that I started paying attention. By the time I reached City Hall, they were saying people needed to take cover NOW, but I was still 2 block from home and with no basement there, I figured I would be safer at City Hall. I pulled up in front of the front door--still not raining. By the time I got out of the car, grabbed my bag and ran the 25 feet or less to the front door (less than 1 minute), it was raining so hard, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face and the wind was fierce. The power went out about the time I got into the building and I'm running for cover. I ended up waiting the storm out in the City Engineer's office in the bathroom/shower that is in there. It felt like I was in that bathroom for hours, but in reality, it was less than 10 minutes. The temperature when I left the office (5 blocks away from City Hall) was 94 degrees. When we ventured outside, the temperature had dropped to 60 degrees. The streets were flooded with 12"+ of water and there was so much hail that it looked like it had snowed. (An hour later and the hail was still visible on the ground in piles.) There were trees and limbs down everywhere and so many leaves that it looked like someone had used a power sprayer to spray everything with leaves.

Fortunately, my home escaped with what I'm considering minor damage. I lost a storm window to either flying debris or hail, my aluminum siding on the west side of the house as well as my vehicle have dents from the hail and I have a yard full of downed limbs and debris. My neighbors fared worse, as some of them had parts of their roofs ripped off, downed trees and one neighbor had the luggage rack on her new SUV ripped off when a tree fell. Anyone with vinyl siding--well the west side of their homes look like someone took a machine gun to them--severe damage. We were only without power for a couple of hours, but parts of the City are still without power, including my office.

The pictures above: The tan siding pictures are of my neighbor's house and the hail damage sustained during the tornado. There is also a picture of what is left of my poor garden--only the tomato stakes survived, as well as the debris in my back yard.

But thankfully, only minor injuries have been reported by the community. The property damage is horrendous, but it could have been SO much worse, especially given the time it struck--right at evening rush hour. God was watching over us.

Happy Birthday to Jenny on the 22nd

Happy Birthday to Jenny on the 22nd. (she's in the middle--black shirt). I have a newer picture, but it is trapped on my camera until I remember where I put my cables! Sorry about that! While I don't remember Jenny's actual birth, as I was not quite 6, what I do remember is that she is the first baby that Mom let me hold....granted on the bed, but at least not with someone else holding the baby and me just sort of hanging on. Hope you have an awesome birthday tomorrow! Love ya!

Happy Birthday to Paula on the 15th

This is late--my fault totally. I thought about it last week, but then didn't make it back online to post the picture and birthday wishes. So Belated Happy Birthday to Paula on the 15th. Hope you had a fantastic day. I was not quite 7 when you were born, but I do remember it well, as Mom was still in the hospital with you on my First Communion (in the days when new moms were in the hospital for several days versus the drive-thru deliveries of today) and Dad had to get me ready. I don't remember who put my hair in curlers, or even who stayed with us (maybe Aunt Katie, or maybe Grandma Holtel--not sure) but I do remember Dad trying to get my veil on straight at Church. Love you, sis!

Happy Birthday to Christy on Mothers' Day!

Happy Birthday to niece Christy on 5-8 (Mothers' Day). You were born on Mothers' Day...how appropriate is that. We were at your Great-Grandma Holtel's for Mothers' Day when your Mom went into labor. I remember waiting in the waiting room at the hospital for you to be born, as I wasn't allowed to go back to see your Mom until after you were born. I also remember all of the coal black hair you had! Hope you have an awesome birthday! Love you lots, Aunt Theresa